Intellectual Humility Can Reduce Negative Reactions to People Who Disagree With Us
Shauna M. Bowes: Across measures and samples, intellectual humility was significantly associated with lower affective polarization. Compared to participants low in intellectual humility, participants high in intellectual humility indicated that they felt less negatively toward members of political outgroups, would be less distressed by a family member marrying a political outgroup member, and viewed political outgroup members less negatively on characteristics such as arrogant and unintelligent. Moreover, intellectual humility tended to be associated with lower ideological polarization. Compared to participants who scored low in intellectual humility, those who scored high rated themselves as less ideologically different from people in the opposing party.